Phila.gov
Below is a listing of the behavioral health evidence-based practices (EBPs) in Philadelphia. For each of the following EBPs you will find a brief case example, an in-depth overview of the treatment, and contact information for providers who currently deliver each EBP. You can learn more about each practice by clicking on the practice title.
Please note: This website currently features EBPs that were implemented through DBHIDS-sponsored training initiatives or EBPs that require training or monitoring from treatment developers. This is not an exhaustive list of the evidence-based practices, programs, or innovations in the Philadelphia behavioral health provider network. This website will be periodically updated with additional EBPs in Philadelphia.
For a list of EBP Providers in Philadelphia, please refer to the EBP Program Designation list
Find EBPs by Age Range
Birth - 5 years old
Applied Behavior Analysis helps individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and learners with other special needs increase skills and behaviors that are not yet developed, decrease problematic behaviors that interfere with learning, and teach caregivers how to successfully manage challenging behaviors.
ABA Case Example: A 3-year-old is demonstrating challenging behaviors commonly associated with ASD. She is not communicating using spoken language. Rather, she will scream and make unintelligible sounds. She engages in destructive tantrums, including banging her head repeatedly against the floor or wall when upset. She has been suspended from her daycare until supportive services are approved due to her unsafe tantrums. Her parents also want help at home to get her to use more words and to be safe when upset.
Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) helps caregivers of young children who have experienced trauma develop a strong, nurturing relationship with their child to restore the child’s sense of safety and to support positive development.
CPP Case Example: A young child is displaying a lot of acting out behaviors, such as fighting, defiance, hyperactivity, and disregulation. Both child and caregiver have histories that include trauma. Caregivers’ history from their own childhood experiences may be influencing the current relationship. In joint sessions the caregiver will learn new ways to interact and provide support to their child.
Get more in-depth information about the CPP treatment option.
2 - 8 years old
The Incredible Years (IY) is a group of interlocking evidence-based programs which address the skills needed for caregivers, teachers, and children to increase the chances of academic success, strong interpersonal relationships, and healthy development in the child.
IY Case Example 1: A child frequently has been getting in trouble at school related to interpersonal issues with other children as well as the teacher. The child’s caregiver would like to increase both their own and their child’s ability to communicate effectively with others to decrease interpersonal issues.
IY Case Example 2: A teacher has noticed that most of the children in class are experiencing difficulty with working together during activities and become angry with one another easily. The teacher is interested in improvement classroom management skills to promote prosocial behavior and emotional regulation in the children in this class.
Get more in-depth information about the IY treatment option.
Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is a treatment for young children and their caregivers that uses a coaching model to strengthen the parent-child relationship and build skills for behavior management.
PCIT Case Example: A young child doesn’t listen to instructions, is aggressive at home or at school and is having frequent, intense tantrums. The caregiver is feeling frustrated and overwhelmed as they struggle to manage behaviors. This family could benefit from both relationship building and additional behavior management skills.
Get more in-depth information about the PCIT treatment option.
Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) Brochure
Primary Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement (PriCARE) assists caregivers of children with disruptive behaviors or traumatic experiences in developing positive parenting skills and helps improve parent-child relationships.
Get more in-depth information about the PriCARE treatment option.
5 - 18 years old
Applied Behavior Analysis helps individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and learners with other special needs increase skills and behaviors that are not yet developed, decrease problematic behaviors that interfere with learning, and teach caregivers how to successfully manage challenging behaviors.
ABA Case Example: A young teenager is exhibiting challenging behaviors commonly associated with ASD. The child is not communicating using functional language but will echo almost anything that is said to her. She is struggling with managing self-care associated with puberty and still has toileting accidents if doing a preferred activity. She will also hit herself and her family when really frustrated. When not closely supervised, she will run out of her house and go to a local store, where she likes to look at anything sparkly or shiny. These challenging behaviors are exhibited mostly in the home, and community settings. These challenging behaviors are affecting family dynamics and putting her safety at risk.
Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) helps children and their caregivers overcome the impact of traumatic events through psychoeducation, creating a safe space to process the event, and developing new coping strategies.
TF-CBT Case Example: A child or adolescent is exhibiting significant emotional or behavioral difficulties after a traumatic event. Her caregiver is struggling to manage these new challenging behaviors. The child and parent would benefit from gaining a better understanding of how trauma has impacted their family and learning new strategies for coping with this experience.
Get more in-depth information about the TF-CBT treatment option.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is a solution-focused treatment that helps a person learn skills and solve problems by identifying unhelpful thinking patterns, changing inaccurate beliefs, engaging in new behaviors, and relating to others in more positive ways that support meeting their personal goals and recovery.
*Through the Beck Community Initiative, providers have been trained in transdiagnostic Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for a broad range of presenting concerns, or in a model of CBT for adults with schizophrenia and serious mental illness (Recovery Oriented Cognitive Therapy – CT-R).
CBT Case Example: An adult or child’s feelings of depression and anxiety are getting in the way of their engagement in activities. They want to develop new skills and strategies for managing their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors so they can achieve their goals.
Get more in-depth information about the CBT treatment option.
Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT) helps families build new patterns of interacting in order to reduce conflict and improve behavior and relationships among family members.
ESFT Case Example: A child is defiant toward his caregivers, frequently engaging in verbally and physically aggressive behavior. His caregivers are frustrated and feel they don’t know how to get their child’s behavior under control. There is a lot of tension among family members. They want to find new ways of interacting and relating to one another so they can address these behaviors and begin to reconnect.
Get more in-depth information about the ESFT treatment option.
Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI) is a brief intervention for children who have experienced a potentially traumatic event. This intervention is aimed at preventing post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms by strengthening the family’s ability to communicate and offer the child support.
CFTSI Case Example: A child or adolescent has recently been involved in a traumatic experience and is exhibiting symptoms such as sleep difficulty, intrusive thoughts, depressive withdrawal, anxiety, tantrums, and aggression. The child’s caregivers want to better understand their child’s response to the event and learn strategies to support the child through this difficult time.
Get more in-depth information about the CFTSI treatment option.
Joint Planning Team (JPT) is a support and planning process that brings people from different parts of the family’s life together to help them identify resources and develop skills to sustain youth in the home.
JPT Case Example: A family is involved with multiple systems (e.g. school, behavioral health, juvenile justice, and/or child welfare) and needs help with complex service coordination. This family could use support in learning how to navigate the system, community supports, and treatments that will help them get back on track.
Get more in-depth information about the JPT treatment option.
Multisystemic Therapy for Problem Sexual Behaviors (MST-PSB) is a treatment for youth who have exhibited problematic sexual behavior. MST-PSB works with the whole family to address the behavior and develop skills and supports while keeping the youth in their community and maintaining the safety of others around them.
MST-PSB Case Example: A young person has engaged in problem sexual behavior. The family knows that the safety of the victim, community, and their child is a top priority and wants to engage in intensive treatment that addresses the behavior while allowing their child to remain safely at home.
Get more in-depth information about the MST-PSB treatment option.
Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is a family-based intervention aimed at changing the patterns of how families members communicate, problem solve, and support one another.
FFT Case Example: A teenager is acting out, getting in trouble at home, school, and with the juvenile justice system (e.g. truancy, violent acting out, delinquent and disruptive behavior). The family is in crisis and the teen is at risk for more serious problems down the road. They would benefit from intensive, family services in their home and community to address these challenges.
Get more in-depth information about the FFT treatment option.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) helps individuals who have struggled with suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and emotion disregulation to develop coping strategies and skills for committing to “a life worth living.”
DBT Case Example: An adult was recently admitted to the hospital because of suicidal feelings. He/she has significant challenges regulating emotions, managing interpersonal relationships and has a history of self-harm behaviors such as cutting and/or suicidal thoughts. He/she could benefit from learning new ways of coping with personal and relationship challenges, as well as coaching to use those skills during times of crisis.
Get more in-depth information about the DBT treatment option.
Adult (18 years + )
Applied Behavior Analysis helps individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and learners with other special needs increase skills and behaviors that are not yet developed, decrease problematic behaviors that interfere with learning, and teach caregivers how to successfully manage challenging behaviors.
ABA Case Example: A young man has an ASD diagnosis and learning difficulties. In some areas he has age-appropriate functioning, but in others, such as adaptive skills and social-emotional development, he is significantly behind his peers. He must continue to live with his parents and relies on them to take care of most of his needs. He can speak in full sentences; however, he struggles with social interactions and initiating conversation. He is described as isolated and has no friends or romantic interests. He also does not express emotions in an age-appropriate manner. If he feels sad or angry, he will burst into tears, scream, and/or walk away from the situation.
Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy helps individuals who have experienced traumatic events process and address symptoms related to traumatic memories.
EMDR Case Example 1: A 35-year-old woman was physically attacked on her way home from work. As a result, she has extreme difficulty trusting others, has become fearful of going outside on her own, and has panic attacks whenever she is reminded of this traumatic event. These difficulties are impacting her ability to travel to work, and she often feels unsafe. She is interested in a therapeutic intervention to help address symptoms related to the trauma.
EMDR Case Example 2: A 17-year-old experienced a traumatic event when he witnessed the death of a close friend. Since this event, he has had flashbacks related to the death, avoids anything that reminds him of the traumatic event, and has trouble sleeping due to recurring nightmares. He has expressed interest in identifying and processing these emotional and behavioral difficulties to improve their overall well-being.
Get more in-depth information about the EMDR treatment option.
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams provide case management, psychiatric services, employment and housing assistance, family support, substance abuse treatment, and other services and supports critical to an individual’s ability to live successfully in the community.
ACT Case Example: An adult is struggling with a serious mental illness, and is having difficulty functioning in areas such as work, relationships, housing, money management, physical health, and wellness. Coordinated, comprehensive services will help them manage these complex needs and engage in community activities and supports.
Get more in-depth information about the ACT treatment option.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is a solution-focused treatment that helps a person learn skills and solve problems by identifying unhelpful thinking patterns, changing inaccurate beliefs, engaging in new behaviors, and relating to others in more positive ways that support meeting their personal goals and recovery.
*Through the Beck Community Initiative, providers have been trained in transdiagnostic Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for a broad range of presenting concerns, or in a model of CBT for adults with schizophrenia and serious mental illness (Recovery Oriented Cognitive Therapy – CT-R).
CBT Case Example: An adult’s feelings of depression and anxiety are getting in the way of their engagement in activities. They want to develop new skills and strategies for managing their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors so they can achieve their goals.
CBT for Schizophrenia and Serious Mental Illness (CT-R) Case Example: An individual experiences auditory hallucinations and, at times, is aggressive and disruptive in their treatment setting. The CT-R model uses strategies to engage the individual in meaningful, interactive activities that are connected to their recovery goals.
Get more in-depth information about the CBT treatment option.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) helps individuals who have struggled with suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and emotion disregulation to develop coping strategies and skills for committing to “a life worth living.”
DBT Case Example: An adult was recently admitted to the hospital because of suicidal feelings. He/she has significant challenges regulating emotions, managing interpersonal relationships and has a history of self-harm behaviors such as cutting and/or suicidal thoughts. He/she could benefit from learning new ways of coping with personal and relationship challenges, as well as coaching to use those skills during times of crisis.
Get more in-depth information about the DBT treatment option.
Prolonged Exposure (PE) aims to reduce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms by helping individuals approach trauma-related thoughts, feelings, and situations that had previously been avoided.
PE Case Example: After experiencing a traumatic event, an adult is displaying PTSD symptoms such as reliving the event, avoiding situations that remind them of the event, remaining jittery or on alert, and changing the way they think about themselves or others. These symptoms are impacting their ability to engage in activities and relationships. They are looking for a treatment that will reduce these symptoms and help them move forward in life.
Get more in-depth information about the PE treatment option.
For Individuals Seeking Services
This website is a resource for information about EBPs in Philadelphia. It does not include the full continuum of behavioral health services available and is not a substitute for a comprehensive evaluation to identify the most appropriate course of treatment for an individual or family. Learn more about the full continuum of behavioral health services available in the DBHIDS network.
For additional information about accessing services please contact CBH Member Services at 888-545-2600 or visit DBHIDS’s Resources Page.
